TV Review: Angie Tribeca (2×3) “Beach Blanket Sting-O”

In this week’s episode of the TBS comedic cop show Angie Tribeca, the team gets a much-needed day at beach, just not the way you would imagine. When a swarm of bodies begin washing up on the beaches of Los Angeles, Jay Geils (Hayes MacArthur) must go undercover as a lifeguard to find out what exactly is going on. When it’s revealed that the victims didn’t drown, but had overdosed on an illegal dieting pill, Geils just might get in over his head in a dastardly team of lifesavers.

What shines brightest about this week’s episode is that the show finally feels like it’s starting to find its groove again. After some bumps with the first two episodes in the second season, episode three feels a lot more tuned with what the original season went with: incredibly ridiculous humor and the characters thrown into its mix. You’d be surprised at the vast assortment of very funny beach jokes the writers concocted this week, and it only helps boost “Beach Blanket Sting-O” to be season two’s best episode to date.

Additionally, Hayes MacArthur does a great job taking the majority of screen time and rolling with the mad hilarity. Even the love triangle subplot he’s been involved with this season manages to find some ground in comedic timing. While originally forced into the season opener, and it still does feel a little contrived at the end of the day, the laughs that stem from the characters of Geils, Tribeca and Scholls at last roll out one after the other.

The downside is that while Hayes MacArthur does a good job commanding the screen for the week, sadly, Rashida Jones is forced to take a back seat. Instead of throwing her bubbly personality and comedic talents into her character of Tribeca, she’s forced to be more of a prop for the plot and love triangle subplot than anything else. Sure, there was bound to be some episodes centered more around the amusing background characters, but Tribeca’s character still could have been given more to work with.

Yet, even without Tribeca being used to the best of her abilities, this episode is still a substantial improvement over the past couple episodes. Sure, if you don’t find yourself already enamored with the oddball, Police Squad! style that Angie Tribeca is going for, “Beach Blanket Sting-O” isn’t going to magically change your mind. However, if you love the tongue-in-cheek style season one was going for, Angie Tribeca finally feels like it’s returning to form.

Rating: 8.5/10

​Donald Strohman is a Pennsylvania State University film graduate currently residing in Metro Atlanta, Georgia. Before being a part of The Young Folks team, he contributed to GameDeck and the satire website The Black Sheep. He also writes for the game journalism site GameSkinny. When he's not trying to fulfill his life long dream of becoming the "Hash Slinging Slasher", Donald enjoys watching movies, playing video games, and writing; sometimes all at once.

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As the ratings continue to decline. Rather than the lofty perch of “Police Squad!” this was more akin to “Son of the Beach.” The trope behind mass murders being a cloak has grown tiresome, much like the show itself.

Savage Poopie

Ahhh, Savage Brit! The same Savage Brit who trolls every Angie Tribeca post. The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, AV Club, Just Jared, Den of Geek (deep inhalation of breath because this list is comically long), Paste, Wired, Roger Ebert, The Young Folks (another deep inhalation of breath)… look, we get it, you have some sort of connection to this show and your diaper fills up with poopies any time something positive is written about it. I mean, seriously, look at all those websites you’ve visited month after month after month just to to write the same old sh*t about the same show. Seriously, look how many websites. Look at them. It’s so many. Like, a lot. It’s hilarious. Also hilarious, the fact that it seems like you still watch the show, even into its second season. P.S. The ratings went up this week.

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